


foolish;

by volna (seductrce)



Series: memories [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: ??? - Freeform, Getting Together, M/M, Post Ceremonial Duel, Pre-Relationship, THEY ARE DUMB ABOUT THEM, Yami Yuugi | Atem has his own body, allllllright this is my second attempt at posting this wtf, anyway, anyway atems got his own body hes chilling with the gang working shifts at the game shop, anzu/yuugi established and talked about, do i have to add them as code into the html or what let me try that, getting used to the whole being human again thing and living in the modern world and shit, i mean it if any of you know how to add emojis into the text without it being cut off: @ me, jou/mai and honda/shizuka implied but easily ignored, just be aware its there, okay uh how does one add emojis to the text bc im gonna murder myself its ESSENTIAL PART OF THIS, some talk about nightmares/anxiety with some somewhat graphic bits in the end but nothing bad, still dont know how to tag, they have feelings, update: didnt work wtf, we use japanese honorifics in this dont @ me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-27 00:59:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13869711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seductrce/pseuds/volna
Summary: between the two of them, stubborn as they were, of course it was Atem who made the first move._____________________alternatively: it's valentine's day and Atem thinks lmao yk what im gonna get that fool some sweets and confess i like him like that, let's see howthatgoes





	foolish;

**Author's Note:**

> alright listen me out first before you read this.
> 
> i started a rewatch of the jap anime some weeks ago (which is the first time since i was like what, 12 or something) and due to work/uni reasons i have JUST moved past duelist kingdom so my knowledge of canon things is mostly como se dice…limited to the bits and pieces i caught while reading other's work.
> 
> so, to make life easier for all of us, we'll go with the following approach, just to have y’all on my page ok:
> 
> 1\. the ceremonial duel was in summer in this. i have NO clue if it actually WAS in summer canonically but it was in summer in THIS bc hot egyptian summers just go well with terribly meaningful egyptian duels and that way, atem got his body right around his birthday (have i mentioned how spot on a thing it is that he’s a LEO like i swear to god, everything makes so much sense that way)
> 
> 2\. everyones a few years older just bc i dont really feel comfortable writing about high school aged kids since im like,,,in my early 20s yk so basically bending canon a little we say kaiba’s some 22ish and atem’s like…some 5022ish? JUST ROLL WITH IT 
> 
> 3\. atems taller than yuugi. not by much mind but hes not?? shota short like man that shit does NOT sit well with me, i’m all for height differences and kaiba being his ridiculous 6’ something like a GIANT but also atem’s some 5’11ish dont @ me have you met him, his presence fills his new body into a height that corresponds ok he’s not 15 anymore, he’s an adult and he’s a grown ass man and he’s not THAT short, thank you very much (he also looks like atem and not like yuugi aka he looks like a brown skinned egyptian, not like the light skinned anime version of a japanese teenager, thanks, goodbye)
> 
> 4\. kaiba….ohhhhhh kaiba. look as i said i got no idea what exactly will happen in canon from here on out and since the first time i watched yugioh has not been subbed but dubbed i came to understand recently that subbed kaiba is not QUITE the asshole that dubbed kaiba always was lmaoooo???? which is also why i am here just post duelist kingdom writing specifically THIS and nothing else bc its THERE, its right in my face and i can’t ignore it and/or not yell about it for another almost 200 episodes yk. so.  
> the thing is that 1. kaiba isn’t that much of an asshole is he and 2. he like??? REALLY likes atem? in the “he respects him” kinda “he’s the only one worthy of his attention” way, right. so as 3. we add that all the shit they went through, all the almost dying and the defeating bad great demons together and saving each others LIVES allll the time, had kaiba…mature? just a little?  
> like, look, he’s a genius science nerd successful CEO fashionista gay, he’s peak gay if you so will and yes his issues fuck him up good but he’s not broken beyond repair. he’s not fucked up with no hope for getting better. hes human as much as he would hate me saying it beyond the biological fact, he’s human, and he’s soft at his god damn core. he’s human and we deal with that bc humans grow if they put in the effort and kaiba, willingly or not, put in the damn effort to grant him a little bit of wisdom and some well deserved character development? i mean...all that shit they experienced together, the way they make each other feel, it cracks an opening into their shells for something as pure and as untouched as...trust. its new for both of them in some ways, but for kaiba to feel a tug towards someone who is not mokuba in a way that feels like “family” is so rare, and so fucking killer, that it changes him, and he matures, just a little, into someone who can admit to himself, in the privacy of his own heart, that he cares.  
> that’s how i see kaiba at this point, post All That, as someone whos been through a hell of a lot with the gang, as someone who’s been scared SHITLESS by what atem losing that last duel would mean and do to him bc the thought of it alone was fucking him up (and since we got like, mf canon in dsod of how obsessed he’d get with reviving/getting to atem i wouldn’t even call this that much of a long shot oh my god his gay ass really DID THAT who is he)...  
> as someone whos been therefore examining his feelings very carefully for some 6+ months in this, on the basis that just maybe he’s not entirely apathetic towards atem…this is where i see him. strangely…crushing and strangely aware of how BADLY he’s crushing.  
> he’s...an adult, ok. he can handle himself, hes not TOTALLY hopeless. he’s also just a LITTLE self aware. just enough to put stones into his own path as fucking ALWAYS.
> 
>  
> 
> anyway this is lots of bla bla JUST YK put on a playlist thats titled something as ambiguous as “evening chill” or something and uhhh have fun, kids

And it was night.

 

The moon was shining crystal clear up in the sky, a beautiful full circle of palest white against the midnight dark. Here and there, unobscured, even a few stars were visible from where Atem was standing with his head tipped all the way back, surrounded by skyscrapers that towered like gleaming shafts of night glass up towards heaven. His taxi drove off as soon as he let the door fall shut, a lone car scurrying back towards downtown, and the club scene where business was surely waiting. Here, everything was quiet. Naturally, no one worked this late. No one sat in their office in the am, finishing prototypes for VR systems, or settling on card designs, or checking financial reports, or doing Gods knew what really, no one. No one but _him_.

Pulling his phone up, Atem checked the time and sighed gently into the cold night air. 0.43 am. A godless hour. It wasn’t even Valentine’s Day anymore, so what exactly was he doing here, with his fists jammed into his coat pockets, staring up to the topmost floor of K.C. tower? Although obviously impossible, he imagined seeing a light up there, lonely and coy, blinking at him to hurry already. Closing his eyes and taking a shuddering breath, Atem tried to calm his racing heart. After all, he knew exactly what he was doing here.

 

Hurried, he stomped down the walking path, through surroundings that had an alien quality to them, science fiction-y, all sleek silver in the moonlight. The frost covering the low shrubbery along the way towards the entrance encrusted the winter greens in diamond, sparkling gently in the pale light barely reaching the dark corners. It was as if someone had gutted the world and let all the color bleed out. In gusts of wind, remnants of the afternoon’s dry snow twirled up to dance around him, silent and beautiful. Nothing looked real.

Briefly, Atem wished he could tell Yuugi about this, later, about the way the night turned the Kaiba Corp. district into a place from one of Honda’s favorite shitty space novels that Atem had devoured once he’d mastered to read well enough a few months back during long October evenings filled with everyone’s collective shouts of how great he was doing when he wrote his first full sentences in Japanese, Kanji and all. A fond smile stole itself into his mouth corners before he could stop it, and why should he? His friends, they were the reason he could do what he was doing now, walk among the living in his own body, grasp life and really live it - a part of the world instead of an eternal spectator. What would he do without them. And yet-

Something inside of his chest recoiled at the thought of revealing where he’d been tonight. Not even so much for his own sake, rather than-

The doors were heavy to pull open with no daytime automatic handling most of the weight.

He just...wanted to know first, before he could talk about it. He just wanted to know for sure.

 

“Oh, Mutou-sama!”

Atem almost flinched at the too loud call ringing out of nowhere after the eternal, windswept quiet of the outside. K.C. tower’s entrance hall was held in semi-darkness, eerie and vast with no beginning nor end in sight and, unasked, a thought crossed Atem’s mind, of how equals was a good word for them, after all. Was he not a king in his own right, ruling over this endless kingdom of polished steel and tasteful marble, just as Atem had been, back then, of sand and gold? Out of habit, he turned the triplet of thin golden rings around his index finger - counter-clockwise, thrice exactly - and made his way over to where a lonely guard he didn’t recognize was apparently damned to sit out the night shift behind a solid looking counter. Not that Atem was surprised to be mistaken for Yuugi, or to be recognized, whichever it was. All false pride aside, this was Kaiba Corporation and Atem didn't expect anything less from its CEO’s employees.

Giving the guard a tight smile, Atem nodded in greeting.

“Good evening. I’m here to see-”

“Kaiba-sama, of course, of course. You have an appointment? It’s rather late in the night, you understand, I don't believe Kaiba-sama would want to be interrupted even n-”

“No, I have one,” Atem lied, flashing his most self-assured smile, hoping it would be convincing enough. It surely wasn't unlike Kaiba to stay this long, so maybe, with some luck…“He has an urgent matter to discuss and called me over right away, I’m sure informing you to anticipate my arrival simply slipped his mind. He is rather busy as you said…”

 

The guard, however, had already picked up the phone halfway through his, as he thought rather well-constructed explanation, and dialed a two-digit number, shortcut to Isono’s phone, for sure. Or maybe the secretary’s office, though Atem doubted Kaiba would allow anyone but Isono to stay this late, aside from himself. As little as Kaiba sometimes seemed to care about his own health, Atem was just as sure that he made his employees keep regular hours, with sufficient, and mandatory breaks in between. Nothing less efficient than a run-down team, right?

Suppressing a chuckle, Atem laid his head to the side and watched the phone ring in the guard’s hand, once, twice. Then, a deep voice answered, and the guard hastily explained the situation. Mutou-sama was here to see Kaiba-sama, was this correct? He said he had an appointment? Atem grimaced at the pause that settled on the other end then, leaning against the counter inconspicuously to try and hear what was going on. Silence, more silence, then the sound of a door closing, and Isono speaking again, louder than before. 

“-things in order. -send-tou-sama up t- immediately.”

Nodding, the guard put the phone back down and shrugged in Atem’s direction.

“Your appointment’s been confirmed. Please don’t think lowly of me, it’s my duty to check. For safety's sake.”

Atem smiled again, more genuine this time. “I don't mind at all. Thank you for your hard work.”

 

The woman smiled back at him and got up to lead him to the security entrance, tapping the machines to life with a four digit code Atem memorized without meaning to, wondering if the combination meant anything.  

“Please put your bag down onto the conveyor belt and step through the gate.”

Hesitant only a fraction of a second, Atem put the small gift bag he'd been holding onto into one of the baskets and stepped through the gently whirring metal detector himself. There was nothing on him to cause a reaction and the guard chuckled when she checked his bag’s contents dutifully.

“This girl must like you a lot, Mutou-sama.”

“Mh?”

The woman smiled to herself, and threw him a look that he wanted to call…motherly. Like she was appraising him as a suitor for her own daughter.

“These chocolates, I assume they’re a gift for Valentine’s Day? They’re of highest class, the girl who gave them to you must care about you...and like you a lot! Though, it’s not really surprising.”

 

Cheeks growing hot, memories flashed by - of Yuugi’s quest to find the right chocolates to mix with his own home-made ones so that Anzu ‘wouldn't notice how all the terrible ones are mine’, walking right past the shelf labelled ‘luxury’ with a hand wave. “Way too expensive and not even that tasty, I heard. Bitter.”

Bitter and way too expensive. Something had had Atem stop in his tracks, regarding the finely packed pralines. They’d looked expensive alright, like a whole month’s Game Shop salary worth of chocolate in a tiny little box of 12 pieces. One box in particular had caught his eye. It’d had an electric blue ribbon tied artfully around it, sticking out from the midst of all the pink and red that was surrounding them. Valentine’s Day. What an absolutely ridiculous festivity.

 

Hoping her insinuations would explain his burning cheeks to her, Atem smiled again, trying for shy rather than slightly horrified as he felt. “Well...yes.” He averted his gaze for extra effect.

The guard laughed, good-natured and wholesome, and put the chocolates back into the gift bag with care.

“Well, then I hope everything works out for you two. You seem to like her back, don’t you.”

Atem thought she’d pinch his cheek. Gratefully, no such thing occurred. Instead, she pointed in the general direction of the elevators he knew to be at the end of the hall.

“Just punch in top floor and it will take you straight to Kaiba-sama’s offices. Goodnight, Mutou-san.”

Bowing awkwardly to play the part, Atem muttered a polite goodnight back at her and hurried off towards the elevators, relaxing only after the doors slid shut behind him. Leaning back against the brushed steel railing, he closed his eyes and simply...breathed. ‘Like a lot’, huh. Interesting way to put it, how as much as thinking about seeing Kaiba in a few moments set Atem’s entire chest cavity on fire like he was breathing Ra’s golden flame into his own lungs. He could not remember the last time he had felt like this, about anything. ‘Like a lot’.

 

It had been just over a month since they had last seen each other. For the first week of January, Kaiba Corporation had formally invited all and every person of any importance in the gaming community to a New Year’s Ring-In party, with presentation of products to anticipate the coming year, alpha-game trials, drinks a-plenty and of course, free food. Jounouchi had whooped in delight, running around the Game Shop in circles, waving his invitation like a ten million yen bill.

“Can’t believe that jerk’s using all his money to do something good for once. Games and food, Yuugi. Games _and_ food!!”

Yuugi had looked from Jou to Atem with an apologetic smile on his face but Atem had waved him off, laughing at Jounouchi’s enthusiasm. Who were they to complain about games _and_ food?

It’d been a black tie event nonetheless, and Atem had pulled his best - and only - suit from his closet (which was really just a cheap open-air ikea rack until they’d find the room for a proper dresser), a sleek, sharp-edged thing like a blade, of an anthrazit so deep it seemed almost black in one light, and shimmering with silver in another. Anzu had helped him pick and fit it, though it’d been Mai’s assessment that had made the purchase final, when she’d grinned at how apparently dashing he looked. Atem had thrown Yuugi a raised brow, who’d shrugged back helplessly. 

“You look good, I guess?” he’d said, and Atem had smiled broadly.

“Thanks, aibou. _Your_ judgement, I trust.”

This, in turn, had resulted in Mai opening her mouth to yell profanities and Anzu stomping her feet and all of them laughing way too heartily over a joke as small as that.

Dressed up, they had made their way to the party, Mai and Jou taking Shizuka and Honda as their plus ones respectively so that all of them’d had a chance to go. The location for the reception - lobby of one of Domino’s most expensive hotels, naturally - had been polished to the nines, classy and smooth, with good music playing and too many acquaintances present to feel weird about how suddenly, there were two (quite similar looking ones, mind) DM World Champions walking the room instead of one.

The tale of the pharaoh was a mystery hushed up still, even months later, and so, everyone had seemed to simply ignore the fact, and had just...pretended that everything was just as it was supposed to be - though Yuugi had tried to stay away from him for the night to avoid awkward conversations and uncomfortable silences. Atem’d been, by all means, highly amused and even so much as endeared. Someone had paid for certain persona’s general silence, no doubt, and there was little need to guess who it had been, really.

He’d been ordering a drink when a familiar chilly voice had sent goosebumps down his spine in a shiver he dared not call pleasant. “Are you even of legal drinking age?”

Atem had nodded thanks to the bartender and taken a sip of his mojito, not turning to look at him just yet. “About two and a half hundred times more so than you, no?”

Kaiba had snorted, almost uncharacteristically, into his own glass. “Don’t give me that crap, your body is some six months old. Take it easy with the ruinous poison beverages, will you.”

Raising a brow, Atem hard turned around in his seat, and something - maybe it’d been the third drink in his hand, it was just so easy to blame it, was it not - had compelled him to let his gaze drip, all syrup, down broad shoulders and endless legs, before answering.

“If I wouldn’t know better, Seto...I’d say you sound like you’re worried about me.”

Kaiba’s mouth had opened, then closed, then his eyes had narrowed, gaze flickering from Atem’s single dangly earring to his mouth, to his eyes, and he’d snapped.

“Suits you well, being this ungrateful, your royal _highness_.” The last words sounded like slurs from his mouth, daggers of accusations, and Atem’s heart had tripped over guilt before catching itself, remembering Isis’ reminders. _This body is made to explore boundaries, so explore them._

When, however, had he learned to read Kaiba Seto this well?

“Nervous about your speech?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’ll do well, don’t worry.”

“I have no idea. What you’re talking about. Mind your own damn business.”

Kaiba had slammed his glass down, making sparkly water swamp the bar, and gotten up to walk away.

“Kaiba!” Atem had called out, wondering, watching his dark-suited shoulders push through the parting masses. But Kaiba had not turned back.

When he’d had given his speech half an hour later though, in front of way too many people with way too many expectations, his cool, dispassionate gaze had found Atem in the crowd, again, and again, and again, for a few seconds only, and Atem had smiled in what he’d  hoped been an encouraging and known to be a soft way. He’d wondered, even then, if regarding this particular situation, he was wearing his heart on his sleeve. He’d realized a little too late that he didn’t actually care about that at all. What he really wanted to know was how well Kaiba could read the talk of speaking sleeve-hearts.

 

They had not seen each other any more since that night, but Atem had met the younger Kaiba in the city on two occasions in the following weeks, both times being greeted with a gloved wave drowning in a group of friends, familiar voice yelling his name, and both times leaving Mokuba with a promise to deliver his greetings to his older brother. Mokuba had smiled at him - in a sly way that reminded of Seto when he’d come up with a brilliant strategy in a duel, and made Atem think he knew something Atem didn’t - and nodded enthusiastically around his “I will, don’t worry!”.

The first time had gone by without incident, a few hours after the second, however, Atem had received a message from an unknown number, his phone jinggling with its arrival.

“so instead of calling me you keep using my brother to deliver your ridiculous hellos?”

Amused, Atem had saved Kaiba’s number, hesitating for a swift moment between the screen names “Kaiba Seto” and “[insert emojis bc ao3 hates me]:EYE EMOJI, blue heart, dragon, sparKLE”, and had typed back “who is this?”

“don’t give me that shit, pharaoh” had come back, quite brusque - Atem could hear him spit the last word out like a favorite curse - and then: “its kaiba”. 

“ohhhhh seto hi” had led them to “seto?!?!” to “why, u mokuba?” to no correction but instead “ROLLING EYES EMOJI x 3” which had Atem throw his head back to laugh out loud, for it was the single most uncharacteristic thing he could possibly imagine - Kaiba Seto using emojis - and yet it was the single most Kaiba-esque emoji to use.

Yuugi had thrown his door open with a bang right as Atem was wiping away his tears - balancing on his chair’s hind legs with his own thrown up on the desk surface - stumbling in, all breathless as if he’d run up the stairs, asking what was wrong and if Atem was alright. Surprised to heart attack, and feeling weirdly caught-in-the-act, Atem had fallen out of his chair, literally; had crashed onto the very ground in a spectacular dive that had Yuugi yelling, hurting his tailbone and promising to himself that he’d not lose a word about any of this, to anyone.

How could he reveal, after all, that it was Kaiba Seto who had him laughing so hard he fell on his God damn ass?

Which had led to a balance of sorts.

 

To the untrained eye, to the novice, to the normal, not Duel-Monsters-obsessed everything-is-a-challenge mind, their texting, as persistent as it had become, would look like nothing more than a constant back and forth of overly involved bickering. But in between “shut up already” and “picture attached - as expected, I win at cooking” Atem had soon learned that Kaiba expressed himself over text almost more easy than he did when he spoke, as if the added barrier of typing out what he wanted to say first allowed for his sentences to become more poignant and yet less spiky all at the same time, as if the fact that it was not his usual abrasive tone that delivered the lines softened what was being said into irony, and sarcasm, and teasing. In his texts, Atem found something of Kaiba’s he had suspected to be there, hidden below layers upon layers of bite and disdain, had received wary confirmation of what he’d hoped, really, all this was about.

By any random individual what they were doing would be called nothing short of blunt, impolite bickering but to him, between them…

The way Atem knew what to see between all the harshness, what to say in return to illicit just the right silence (stunned, heat-colored cheeks, huffs of air, hands in hair) (the first time he’d imagined it - Kaiba laughing at something he’d texted, all low and frustrated, eyes shining, pulling a hand through his hair, messing it up - Atem had forgotten how to breathe for a solid minute and decided that he had to never think in that direction again) (it had happened once more, some half hour later, with no more objections from his already addicted heart) (oh, he was _fucked_ ) and just the right answer (sharp, quick-witted blade to his mind’s throat that left marks looking like hickeys rather than bruises, leaving him wanting something he couldn’t quite name); the way Kaiba owned that very certain brand of not giving in to his taunting remarks that made Atem try that bit harder - because this was their language, attacks and blows dealt, life points taken - for lack of another word, what in ancient times Atem would have called akin to, if unconventional, courtship, he had to now refer to with a word quite more modern than that - in their own way, they seemed to be...flirting.

 

The elevator made a soft sound when it arrived at the top floor of K.C. tower and Atem opened his eyes slowly, biting back a sigh. All or nothing had always been his favorite strategy to win a game and this particular one, he was least of all willing to lose. Throwing himself a quick look in the mirrors that made up the elevator walls, Atem registered his flushed cheeks and huffed out a self-pitying laugh before stepping into the cool darkness of Kaiba’s office floor. The elevator doors slid shut behind him, smooth and soundless, effective in cutting off the last of the golden light with a snap. There he was, staring ahead without seeing a thing, heart beating a million too many beats a minute.  

And why in the Gods’ name was he nervous now, eh? Taking a deep breath and gripping the thin strings of the bag he carried a little tighter, Atem tapped the tip of his boot on the marble floor and made his way down the familiar hallway stretching out in front of him until he arrived at the double mahogany doors, accented with milky non-see through glass. Letters and characters were engraved in the wood, English atop and Japanese right below it, elegant, yet sending a message loud and clear. If anyone else would ever want to take that office, they’d have to take down the entire door, too. Wasn’t that just like him, Kaiba Seto, CEO.

To his right, Isono was sitting behind a secretary’s desk, legs thrown up, ankles crossed on the desktop. A tiny reading light was on right behind him as he was leafing through the gossip magazine in his hands at a pace that suggested he only had the one for the night. His immaculate Oxfords did not touch the desk surface. Seemingly unbothered by him showing up, Isono gestured in the direction of the office doors, eyes not leaving his magazine.

“Go head. He’s awaiting you, Atem-sama.”

With a hand already on the handle at the ‘Go ahead’, Atem turned back to Isono so fast he almost snapped his neck.

“How did you know it was me?”

Isono glanced up at him, expression neutral. Atem wondered what was missing, and realized he wasn't wearing his signature sunglasses. Obviously.

“Kaiba-sama ordered to wait for you specifically.”

Of course he did. Of course he’d _know_. With a small breathy laugh Atem nodded, and quietly opened the heavy office doors to slip through, letting them fall shut behind him with a click. Then, just for a moment, he leaned back against the cool wood to take it all in. Over the years, he’d found a strange sense of comfort in this place, after all.

 

As usual, the right side of the enormous room was taken up by the small conference table for ten, the left by the coffee table surrounded by a rather cozy sitting arrangement of plump dark brown leather sofas and fully stacked bookshelves lining the walls. Towards the back, it was all floor to ceiling windows with a floor to ceiling view, against which stood, impressive as ever, the heavy steel and glass desk - working tablets fully integrated into its surface.

Not as usual, however, were the flowers, and Atem’s heart somewhat sank at the sight. He could barely make them out with the low desk light and computer screen being the only light sources in the room and yet, as Kaiba kept typing away like nothing had happened and didn’t yet spare him a glance, the heavy smell of roses and carnations almost knocked Atem over. Every flat surface it seemed, from coffee table to conference table to cabinets and low dressers off to the walls, was covered in bouquets of flowers from elaborate to simple, from entirely over the top to quietly elegant.

_What did you expect, that they wouldn’t try to use this day to get on his good side?_

Atem chided himself with a soft click of his tongue, despite the swoop of his stomach. This was nothing to worry about. 

A simple arrangement of roses, white as the moon shining in from the outside, white like the scales of Kaiba’s beloved monster, stood proud on his very desk, obscuring him from Atem’s greedy gaze. He wore black - didn’t he always - a simple but fine turtleneck sweater catching the screen’s light in its dark grey highlight thread, and he looked tired - didn’t he always; Atem pretended he was allowed such judgement, even if it had been weeks since they’d last seen each other face to face. Kaiba’s mere presence at this hour of the night was evidence enough, and yet…Why did they never meet up?

Atem pondered for a moment, knowing the answer before he finished the question, knowing the answer beyond mundane reasons like “work” and “responsibilities” and “time constraints”.

Fear.

Even now, with Kaiba yet to acknowledge his arrival, there was a tug at the very air in the room. A tension, like it was always there, duel or no duel, between them. A pressure in his chest that appeared without invitation whenever his phone made the sound of a message arriving - hoping, as ugly as that was considering he loved all his friends dearly, to see a certain name light up on his screen. It had been fear, after all, of not knowing what would happen.

As much as the tension had always been there, that sweet competitive hum that pulled their mouth corners into grins and their hands to their decks, it was also different now. Atem wasn’t here to duel. Kaiba wouldn’t ask for one. This was a different game, of who would misstep first, of who would say a word too much, of who would let the rope pulled tight between them snap, and deal with the consequences.

They hadn’t met because meeting was another word for temptation and as this grew clear, Atem wondered whether him coming here tonight meant he was winning - by pushing - or losing, by giving in.

Then again, did it really matter? Had it ever?

 

Releasing the air from his lungs as quietly as he could, Atem’s wandering gaze caught on something small and his mouth widened. Slowly, leisurely, like he had all the time in the world, like he owned the entire place, he strode over to Kaiba’s desk, and set his little gift bag down on top of it, so very obvious, there was no way it would miss Kaiba’s eye - if he’d ever tear his gaze away from his screen, that was.

His eyes were flying along the lines as he typed them and Atem, leaning his hip against the glass edge and crossing his arms, took a savoring moment to watch the way his slender hands raced across the keyboard, chasing towards some invisible finish line.

Then, turning the words into something they were not with a quick twist of his tongue, he spoke.

“Nice flowers.”

The steady rhythm in Kaiba’s fingers faltered as they stumbled over each other and his brows knit together while he pushed the backspace button with rigor. Finally, he exhaled a grunt and looked up.

“Atem.”

Immediately, both their eyebrows shot up. That had sounded...soft. Hoarse, like Kaiba hadn’t spoken in a while, but too sweet, too sighed, breathy, clear, like Atem arriving wasn’t a distraction but rather, salvation. The spoken equivalent of a sight for sore eyes. _Oh_.

Like that, his name lay there between them, for all of two heartbeats, fully exposed. Then, Kaiba cleared his throat, looking away, and Atem’s mouth pulled into what he hoped was an unaffected smirk that would hopefully serve well in pulling Kaiba’s guard down further.

“Seto,” he replied, matter-of-factly, efficient, like stating the weather forecast. Like nothing had happened.

 

“What are you doing here?”

That matched his tone. Swift, cool, distant. Already, Kaiba was back to typing away at his laptop; though, not quite as fast as before, and Atem’s tongue pressed against his teeth where he tried his best to hide a broader smile. Like with every game against Kaiba, each move from either of them posed a new challenge. Like with every game against Kaiba, Atem was almost more interested in the way his features would twist in surprise, or mocking, or quickly covered up delight after every turn, than the turn itself. Not that he didn’t take their duels seriously, no matter the kind, quite the opposite. He never faced Kaiba with anything but his best because Kaiba deserved nothing but his best. It was just...that he liked...his face?

It was familiar in a way that Kaiba would curse him out for ever implying, and yet not all of the familiarity was in the way it reminded him of his past, memories regained or not. On the contrary. That part lay not in the face itself but more so in the way he felt...known, for longer than they’ve known each other.

But when Atem thought of this face - straight nose, thin lips, piercing blue gaze pinning him to whatever wall he was standing at, daring him to not rise to the expectation laying within it, expectation built entirely on respect - no one but Kaiba, _this_ Kaiba came to mind, with his haughty air of superiority, his cruel smirks and arrogant sneers, his genius, his tenderness and caring heart, his pride. In all the duels he’d ever played, Atem had never felt as purely, simply, liberatingly alive as he did when Kaiba was his opponent.

 

Knowing he’d be watching and smiling around the slow in keyboard sounds as he moved, Atem ignored Kaiba’s question and instead, pulled the single red rose he’d had stuck into a button hole of this coat from the Valentine’s party him and his friends had been attending together before he’d decided to bolt for K.C. tower earlier in the night, from his revers. It was a pretty little thing, blood in color, about to go into full bloom. Carefully, Atem tucked it right in between all the white in front of his nose, until it sat there standing out brightly from the rest, a silent reminder, crimson in snow.

Satisfied, he turned the vase until Kaiba was faced with his handiwork, and moved past the desk with his hands in the pockets of his dark jeans, walking up to the windows revealing a sight like no other.

 

K.C. tower was one of the highest buildings in the city and thus, the view from its top floor on a cloudless ice cold post-snow February night was as breathtaking as one could imagine. With distant city lights glittering against a crust of diamond-like snow, moonlight reflecting back from all the glass towers surrounding them, it was like scenery from a dream of a place strangely resembling heaven. Atem had no idea how Kaiba got any work done with this sight in his back.

In truth, nothing would ever match the way a night like this had made the desert dunes glisten, a sea of mirror and bone below a sky black as tar and yet, brighter than imaginable - star-covered breath-halting beauty. Wistfully, Atem wished he could take him there, just once, to share with Kaiba his kingdom the way Kaiba was now sharing his own with Atem.

“Do you know what day it was, Seto?”

 

No typing ceased, for ever since Atem had moved towards the windows, there had been no typing. Atem stared at the moon and bathed in its light, and almost felt the silks that would have covered his body until he’d step into the basin of steaming hot water under the desaturating filter of an ancient sky. He was the Sun’s child, born from its fires and forged in its flames and yet, Atem had always been fascinated by the pale light illuminating the night. Wasn’t it special, in its own way, to show the way when everything else seemed lost?

In eternal darkness, wasn’t it the moon who guided you home?

Soundlessly, he spoke a quick prayer, to Khonsu, and Thot, and asked for the blessings of the moon to reach him on this night, and all those to come, and ignored, how in the back of his mind, fire and ice were crashing in ecstasy, sun and moon were cut from the same sky, one the other’s heart, to come together again, two pieces of the same whole.

 

“Thursday, February 14th,” Kaiba answered, his voice too cold, too even, and Atem smiled with his eyes closed and admitted to himself that there was no way he could ever live without the frustration this man brought into his heart.

“Do you know what day it was, Seto?” he asked again, and this time, it sounded more like a command than a question. The air around them changed as Atem held his breath, head leaned back, still staring up at the sky. This was it. Either he got his answer, or he didn’t. Either Kaiba would say it out loud, admit to it, give him this opening, or he wouldn’t. Amusing, no, how in this particular game they were playing, winning meant being willing to lose.

_Your move, blue-eyes._

The pause dragged on just long enough to have fooled anyone else that Kaiba had really wrestled his pride for an answer. Atem knew better. As Kaiba exhaled audibly, he gently sighed in relief.

 

“Valentine’s Day.”

“Frivolous, isn’t it? Lavish.”

Atem glanced over his shoulder, brow raised in a dare and Kaiba’s gaze caught on the single earring sliding over the back of his coat, the same earring he’d worn to the Kaiba Corp. event. He’d turned all the way around in his ergonomically designed chair, long legs crossed, arms resting in his lap comfortably. He looked relaxed. At ease in this space of his. Almost...bored. Atem knew better.

“Money making,” Kaiba said nonchalantly, making a smile slip onto Atem’s face yet again. Money making, that’s right. “One of the more elaborate schemes of modern capitalism, this one.”

“Seems to be working fine to me,” Atem retorted, turning fully to nod in the direction of Kaiba’s conference table, still covered in flowers and chocolates. “Mr. Popular,” he added, just because, not missing the touch of amusement in his voice, nor the underlying taste of bitterness. Kaiba’s jaw set in a strangely harsh way as he threw a glance at all the arrangements, glaring daggers like they were responsible for Mokuba’s repeated abduction and a fall in Kaiba Corp. stock price of some hefty seven point five percent.

Rolling his shoulders back with an exhausted sigh, Kaiba blinked away, and his gaze barely caught on the gift bag Atem had placed on his desk, practically invisible, black against black. Yet, getting caught it did. A pause.

“Do you know why it works so well?”

Because it plays with love, Atem thought, and let Kaiba answer his own question.

“Humans are fools.”

Ever the philanthrope. As if reading his thoughts, Kaiba threw him a glare, just catching the end of Atem’s exaggerated eye roll and huffed in distaste.

“Either they show too little of how they feel for twelve miserable months, or too much, both ways they let this...concept...rope them into believing that appreciation shown today somehow makes up for any mistakes of the past year. Do they really think, if love is a real thing, that watering it annually with cheap flowers and cheaper chocolates will keep it from withering? Do they think they can _buy_ their way out of the effort? That’s not how it works.” 

He sighed again, as if the weight of humanity’s stupidity was too heavy a burden to carry on his rational, hard-working genius shoulders.

“And yet, it does work, because it’s rooted in our own species’ disgusting need to feel appreciated, and loved. It plays people against each other, like- pawns, in an endless contest of consumerism for who is worshipped most. A blooming example of true exploitation, _and_ blasphemy. Foolish.”

 

Not having anticipated anything less, Atem shook his head and laughed, quietly, to himself. He couldn’t remember the last time they had held a conversation like this, face to face - more than three sentences of which not one was an insult of sorts directed at the other. It was...agitating. It made him crave it, all of it, whatever ‘it’ was, just a little more. 

“Should you really be talking like that, considering you run a business?”

“At least my products make people happy for longer than the time it takes to eat a box of caries-in-the-making, don’t you think?”

Kaiba glanced at him, with a quick something Atem was tempted to call a grin, and returned his gaze right back to the gift bag sitting on the subtly gleaming glass surface, innocent and inconspicuous, catching the moonlight in its edges.

“It’s a nice sentiment still, I believe...within reason,” Atem said, and fell in love all over again, with the way that same moonlight painted light and shadow onto Kaiba’s features.

“How so?”

Maybe ‘it’ was getting to enjoy his presence, and hear his thoughts, after all. Maybe ‘it’ was as simple a thing, as a specific person’s company.

“Gives you time to reflect, doesn’t it? To think about the person you’d want to gift something to, on this day, and wonder why it’s them and no one else.”

This was, after all, the first one of these so called ‘Valentine’s Days’ he got to experience like this...like himself. He hadn’t even known something like it existed until a few weeks ago, when all the decorations had popped up across town and he’d been returning home quite sick of every existing shade of red. But he didn’t have to say that out loud. Instead, Atem kept watching Kaiba closely, fully aware that he was staring, and that Kaiba was aware that he was staring.

“If you’d have asked me last summer, if upon the given that such an occasion arose, I’d have someone to think of...I wouldn’t have said yes. And then a few days ago, we- we were out with Anzu, to pick a scarf for Yuugi and she...explained it to me? She said ‘It’s a day where you tell someone you love that you love them, but it doesn’t really matter how you say it, with words, or gifts, or gestures. It’s just a day where you appreciate the one you love.’ ”

He’d asked her then, how she knew that Yuugi was the one she loved, how someone was supposed to know that person, and an expression took refuge in Anzu’s gaze that Atem still had trouble discerning. 

“The one you love...they’re the one who make your heart beat out of your chest when you think of them. The one you want to see, right this moment, no matter if you’re with them or not. The one your mind returns to, all the time, the one your heart rests with and treasures most. The one who brings you peace, you know? Where you can be yourself, and know it’s okay. It’s alright if you don’t have such a person right now,” she had waved off quickly, laughing a little at the face he was apparently pulling. “I’m sure one day you’ll find a girl that will make you feel this way.”

Atem hadn’t had the courage then, to tell her that the moment she had spoken of beating hearts, a face had popped into his mind, and solidified with every new indicator she’d given.

 

“Would you say yes now?”

Kaiba’s voice pulled him back from the memory, the image of a stern gaze and rigid back conjured up before Atem’s inner eye replaced with the real him, miraculously softer around every edge. And when had Kaiba grown this mature? Atem took a breath, final as it felt. Win or lose. Trust, always.

“I would.”

Kaiba’s eyes, still trained on the little bag on his horribly tidy desk, closed then, and Atem swore he saw his shoulders relax a little, as if some kind of apprehensive tension had been pulled from them.

Striding over, he pushed the bag in Kaiba’s direction, tipping it over. The box of chocolates slid out, enough of it for a brightly blue ribboned corner to peak out.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Kaiba.”

“It’s the 15th.”

“I know.”

 

With careful fingers, Kaiba pulled the box of chocolates from the bag, throwing the empty packaging over his shoulder haphazardly - as if it had lost all reason for his interest the moment it became so - where it landed with a soft clunk in the shadows.

Then, he stared at it, the rectangular box of shiny gold, his gaze blank, a thumb sliding across the plastic wrap. Finally, his mouth opened.

“I hate this brand.”

“It was the most expensive one they had!” Atem protested, half serious, half caught in unlaughed laughter. Wasn’t this just typical. The best and still, it was not good enough. Funny. Now, what if he wasn’t-

“Will you ever let me finish.”

It was not a question. And this, this was a little joke they had running between them, a thing that had happened sometime in the past three and a half weeks, based on Atem always, and that meant always, interrupting Kaiba’s comments after the rude part, ever before the usual unusually sweet ending made its appearance.

“Finish, then. It better be nice, if you know what’s good for you.”

Kaiba glanced up at him, one eyebrow raised, half a smirk settling in his mouth corner like he was about to change his mind and tell Atem a whole other thing. But the fire of that argument died in his eyes to be replaced by something less brightly burning, yet warmer, deeper, making the tops of Atem’s ears prickle uncomfortably. When had Kaiba ever looked at him like that? Like he...mattered? Atem could count the times on one hand. At this moment, each one of them felt to him like air to the drowning.

“I hate this brand, but this particular mix is the only one I buy from them. I like it. Sufficiently.”

Wild and unabashed, a smile spread on Atem’s face before he noticed; he could feel it pulling at his mouth, broad and full of teeth. A “good” died on his tongue and a particular, and peculiar satisfaction settled behind his ribs and spread all the way into his fingertips. Ridiculous as it was, entirely out of nowhere yet maybe not quite as out of nowhere as he was pretending to himself, he felt the unstoppable need to press his mouth against Kaiba’s and wipe that terrible smirk off that was making his head spin with something tangibly worse than mojitos.

 

Instead, he bit his lip, fingers curling on the desk surface. This was all he’d really come for, wasn’t it. To confess. He’d made his move and now he would wait for Kaiba to make his, however long it would take him, whatever his answer would be. Hope was gnawing on his heart like it was steak. Breathing was labor.

As Atem stared - having to go, not wanting to, trying to decide what to _do_ \- Kaiba’s gaze slipped from his eyes, flickering to his mouth instead. Atem’s blood was on fire, burning below his skin, hotter than the sun. He really hadn’t watched enough romantic movies to know how to proceed here, but he didn’t want to push Kaiba, not when he knew how little he liked being pushed. It might be in his nature, and possibly good to do so still, when cards were involved and Kaiba was just being stubborn about things as always, but here-

To Atem’s utter surprise, Kaiba reached out, hand moving towards Atem’s own laying atop his desk, as if to grab it. In the last second, it moved down, opening the top drawer of the under desk between them. Within, there lay a box of chocolates in clear wrap, with an abundance of purple and red and bright yellow ribbon tied around it, so huge it took up half the space of the drawer’s insides. Kaiba pulled it out with deft fingers, and leaned forward a little to pluck the tiny card attached to the white roses that Atem had consciously ignored earlier - not really interested in knowing who thought it appropriate to gift Kaiba such expressive bouquets - and drop it onto the box, still about triple the size of the one he was holding in his other hand. Raising a curious eyebrow, Atem uncurled his fingers, unsure. When Kaiba nodded in direction of the tiny card atop the box of sweets though, he reached out to take it, unfolding it in his grasp.

 

“For Atem” it said, in a sharp hand he would not call beautiful. Neat, maybe.

 

Water smeared his vision and Atem had no idea why. He didn’t feel like crying. He was the farthest from sad. Blinking rapidly until he could see Kaiba’s handwriting again, he looked down at the chocolates, and laughed, bubbly at first, and then with full lungs, a touch of disbelief, a touch of madness. They were such utter, utter fools, caught in this trap like flies in a web. Did that make them human, then, after all?

 

“When…when the hell did you plan on giving me all of- this?”

“I didn’t.” 

“What?” 

Kaiba sighed, defeated it seemed, like he was too tired to deny anything at this point, and got up rather swiftly, stretched his arms above his head with a gentle groan, and moved over to the windows, staring out at the moon, not looking at Atem.

“I wanted to. I bought them with my own damn hands, will you believe, in this shop full of _girls_ and heart shaped _balloons_ , it was ridiculous and _embarrassing_ and I watched them wrap it. I chose the ribbon colors, for God’s sake. I planned to, I just-”

Kaiba’s lips pressed shut.

 

Moving closer, Atem raised his brows in earnest surprise, but couldn’t keep the amusement from shimmering through.

“The great Kaiba Seto, admitting to a loss?”

“What was I supposed to do?” Kaiba snapped in return, throwing him an icy glare.

“Show up at a random party you decided to attend? Last minute on a Thursday night with your incompetent bunch of so-called friends? Who does that? This entire occasion is one big scam! And then what, me, in a doorway, with a bouquet of flowers and some forsaken chocolates, like a complete _moron_ , not knowing if you’d accept them? Not knowing why I even-”

He scoffed in disgust, and glared outside, as if the moon was the enemy, holding his answers captive. “Who do you think I am, Casanova?”

With no clue whatsoever who Casanova was supposed to be, and a mental note made to ask Mai about it, Atem considered.

“Fair enough.”

He had chosen to show up in the middle of the night himself, after all, with a bag that could contain just about anything, and a solid excuse for its content. And without the roses. Actual...actual roses. _Holy crap._

 

“A draw, then?” he concluded, trying not to sound stupid. He really had no idea how to proceed now, not after thousands of years of lock-away in a damned millenium item and his closest thing to relationship advice consisting of Anzu and Yuugi shrugging like everyone had it _that_ easy, Jounouchi’s whatever he had going with Mai and Honda’s not-so secret poetry about Shizuka’s beautiful hair scribbled in the back of his well-read novels, bless his soul but murder Atem’s poor eyes.

Looking up at Kaiba, he thought he spied a smile. Thankfully, his opponent was apparently just as dumb as he was. Fools, both of them.

“A draw, huh?”

And to Atem’s surprise (and weren’t there many tonight), Kaiba turned to him, stretching out a hand. Now when had that ever happened before, voluntarily?

“Good game.”

Laughing lowly, Atem took Kaiba’s hand, shaking it once. It was cool, but sat well in his smaller, warmer one. “Good game.”

 

As he looked up at Kaiba though, there seemed to be a question in his eyes. Almost. Almost. As if he didn’t quite dare to ask it, even now. Fear. What an inconsequent thing to feel, when they had never let each other down before.

Without much thought Atem nodded, brisk with conviction, and found himself, moments later, pulled close against Seto’s chest. Much like him, Seto was either all or nothing.

Atem wasn’t unused to hugs, or physical closeness. Yuugi, Anzu, Jounouchi, Honda, they all loved to express their feelings in small comforting gestures or huge overwhelming embraces. But this-

Somehow different from any hug before, he felt truly...held. Safe.

It was a rare thing for him to want, really, for all the years before the puzzle, he’d been trained to be God on earth, mighty and fearless even in the face of death itself for death was nothing but the next journey; all the years within the puzzle he’d been...alone. Confined to a space so small that safety was no concept he actually considered, where a million doors led to the same empty room and nothing was there to harm him but his own circular thoughts.

And when Yuugi, his brave wonderful Yuugi, had released him, Atem had known that he had to protect them. It had been the only thing he’d known, for the longest time: protect them, all of them. He had had no place to want to feel safe, no, it had been his duty to make everyone else feel safe.

He hadn’t minded. He would have given it all to make sure not one of them got hurt.

It hasn’t been until he’d taken on this new body, all for himself, that he’s begun feeling utterly...real. Human. With blood in his veins that he knew to mean the end if it would ever run out, with no one’s mind to occupy this form but his own, no one else’s to lose if he’d lose it.

He felt vulnerable, to the core; some nights, waking up sweat-soaked and trembling, to black skies and black room corners from nightmares even darker than that, of friends ripped to shreds before his very eyes and him, bound, unable to move, unable to do anything, to help.  
Of his own body, deliberately dissected, until he was nothing but strips of raw flesh, eaten alive by the Gods themselves, screaming but no sound could be heard, yelling his mother’s name without getting an answer, unable to leave the decaying lump left behind, bound to it for eternity, never to see the promised lands of the Afterlife.  
Of hunger so great, he starved on it in his dreams, waking up feeling empty, and lonely, and wrong, and having to swallow breakfast so he wouldn’t worry Yuugi, and having to laugh and joke and live, not sure if he actually wanted to.

And yet, right here; right now, encircled, warm, this. He felt- safe. Not necessarily like nothing could hurt him. More like if he’d get to stay in these arms, he’d be able to face anything; if he’d fall asleep like this, the darkness of waking up would not scare him any more.

 

Pressing his face into the crook of Seto’s neck, Atem brought his arms around his lean waist, pushing closer. Seto’s arms, in return, as if he had waited for his response to this entirely new thing, held him firmly, pulled him in that bit further, and Atem could feel his limbs grow weak, and his lungs fill with seawater threatening to spill from his eyes, and so he held on a little harder, and focused on Seto’s chest rising steadily against his, and breathed.

How good this felt. How long overdue this was. For both of them? How badly he wanted to know if Seto could feel it too, this tug at his very heart, to never let go; if this was another thing they shared, not spoken out loud, in between the lines for they could never say it, could they, ask for it - a simple, undeniable wish, so hidden, so real, it should be called a need.

Who, after all, could ever know you better than your greatest rival? Who, if anyone, could you expose your vulnerabilities to, but him? Who was more prepared to see your weakest and demand it all from you still, with a confidence only someone who really knew what you could do, would?

But was that not too easy? Rival...what an ineloquent word to describe all of what tied them together, all of what they were.

 

He had no idea how long they’d stood there, bathed in pale moonlight, the city shining at their feet, Seto’s face in his hair and Seto’s scent lulling him into a state of utter calm, but in the end, Atem pulled away, just a little, to stare for a while and then, tug an arm free from between them and rest a gentle hand along the high curve of Seto’s cheekbone; looking into his eyes, trying to see his answers there for he knew it would be hard to pull them from his tongue, too difficult a thing, word for word. He acted, rather than talked, where it really mattered, did he not? This utterly stubborn, hard headed fool. How good a match they really were.  

“What do you want?” he whispered still, despite himself, and saw the answer right there, right there in the line of Seto’s brow that softened imperceptibly at the question, in his lips that parted as if to say something but only let an exhale pass, one that hit Atem’s nose tip and Cupid’s Bow for they were that close. He saw it in the way Seto’s gaze flickered again, along his temple, his cheeks, to his lips and back up to meet his gaze. He felt it, when fingers sunk even deeper into his waist, making shivers run down his spine in rivulets.

His thumb ran along Seto’s cheekbone, then down his jaw, deliberate, because he’d wanted to do this, thought about it too often to count. He watched Seto blink so slow it looked like he had closed his eyes into the touch - and went up his chin, to his bottom lip, letting his nail scrape along the sensitive skin lightly and felt a body’s shudder suppressed in his arms.

He whispered again, watching ice blue melt just for him.

“Kiss me, then." 

Sliding a hand into the back of his neck, soft hair between his fingers, Atem tipped his chin up as Seto leaned down, and met him halfway.

And if Atem had thought being held this close by the one who made his heart beat out of his chest had felt right, it was quite incomparable still to the way kissing him felt.  

 

Outside, rooftop snow was caught in a gust of wind, and drifted past the floor to ceiling windows of K.C. tower’s top floor, in a silent and beautiful dance.

1.21 am. A godless hour. Atem never checked his phone for it. Against his own, Kaiba Seto’s lips fell apart. Nothing felt real. Everything felt right.

 

And it was night.

**Author's Note:**

> i got like three or something follow ups i'd want to post for this but i got zero clue if any of yall would even wanna read them so lol yell @ me if you’d care for that lmao (esp about what happened after the kiss bc uh i got like three pages of notes on that lmao why are these notes limited to 5000 characters what kinda bs)
> 
> anyway, fic trivia:
> 
> 1\. just so we are clear, everyone assuming atem likes girls (and only girls, mind) is not 100% bc heteronormativity is a bithc (tho it’s a bitch for sure), it’s bc he never actively denies it bc he uh...doesn’t have to? he just never corrects it to “or guy” or whatever? he’s...like he’s a pharaoh from ancient egypt so assigning him labels we use today seems weird but he doesn’t care about gender as long as he FEELS something for the person yk so i guess he’s pan in my book (??)  
> 2\. atem thinks he’s the ultimate people knower but he’s actually a big ass fool bc back at kaiba corp. when he thinks kaiba’s nervous bc of his presentation he’s only 50% right. kaiba’s nervous alright, but it’s not the presentation lmao why would he be nervous about something like that. it’s atem, atem’s presence, the fact that kaiba has agonized all day whether he’d show or not and what kinda shirt to wear (not to impress atem obviously smh why would he want to) (it was so to impress atem fuck). and atem thinks it’s the presentation and kaiba gets mad bc atem sees right THROUGH him? atem SEES that he’s nervous but not that he’s nervous about HIM and something about that obliviousness when he’s right there in front of kaiba’s nose looking like a damn SNACK? kaiba’s mad and in his mind getting mad about that makes endless sense alright. i said he matured a LITTLE, leave the poor boy.  
> 3\. their texting is literally HILARIOUS and kaiba’s been getting low-key shit from his board for not hiding his boredom at all those very not important meetings lmao bc he’s heavily distracted nowadays and its mostly by atem sending him memes and yelling HOLY CRAP!!!!!!! when kaiba retorts in a vine reference (mr. pharaoh just so we are clear here, mr. pharaoh is a god damn meme lord if I’ve ever met one he breathes meme-ology)  
> 4\. those rings are the first thing atem bought for his first paycheck bc he needed pure gold against his skin, it calms him (he’s a nervous wreck a lot of the time, he just hides his anxiety well but he’s like,,,,,,,got his set of issues lmao)  
> 5\. i’m actually a big fan of „can you believe they actually work really well together“ mature ass couple kaiba and atem who have their shit in order and smack talk all their friends 25/8 bc they got their issues as i said, they are a little back and forth here and there but they keep their own thing mostly under wraps even though they ARE kings of drama (??? don’t ask how this works) and no one knows nothing about them but one morning atem’s things are being all packed up by efficient guys dressed in efficient black and yuugi gets up like wtf and atem’s coordinating everything casually like oh hey yuugi good morning what’s up and yuugi’s like wtf and atem’s like have i not mentioned it, i’m moving in with kaiba and yuugi’s like WHAT!!! the fuck? when? and atem looks at him for a moment, almost AMUSED (asshole) and says “today“ in that voice you’d say “sweetheart” in. yk, like they get engaged and no one knows until they get the wedding invitations. THEY’RE ADULTS OK IT WORKS


End file.
